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news roundup

Here’s a summary of a number of things that, had I more time, I would blog in full. Perhaps more details to come later. Alternately, dear reader, you could let me know which items you would like to hear more about, allowing me to focus on topics of interest to this blog’s audience:

Last night I finally went to the Rime Buddhist Center for a meditation workshop and the first of several classes on “The Basics of Buddhism.” Many people were there. I’m looking forward to future classes.

I brought home my used Fender amp last night, plugged in my new guitar and played for a little while. It sounds really, really good. The amp is much better quality than I had originally imagined I would be buying, and I still stayed within my budget. The guitar is just wonderful, and I’ve learned that it comes with a lifetime (!) warranty. Rummaging around for a strap to use with the guitar, I found one in the case of the beautiful banjo – whose fretboard features a mother-of-pearl inlay of a leafy vine growing up the neck (hopefully, pix online later) – my uncle Jack left me when he died. In 1983, he told me, “If anything ever happens to me, I want you to have this banjo.” Sure, whatever you say, Uncle Jack. Thanks. Within a few months, he was dead from cancer, not having told me that he was terminally ill. I think the strap goes great with the guitar.

At this afternoon’s department meeting, I’m proposing a new course to add to the English Department curriculum. It’s already passed the undergraduate and graduate committee approval process. I’ll post a description later if it’s adopted. Or maybe even if it’s not.

Thanks for your input, faithful readers. Soon I’ll have more to say about Rick Springfield, the book I’m working on, and the new course, which just this afternoon was approved unanimously by the department. Now it’s on to the College of Arts and Sciences curriculum committee.

Funny you should bring up Fox and Love again just now. Matt called from C’ville two nights ago to say he’d found a remaindered copy of _Scribal Publication in Seventeenth-Century England_ for six dollars. I’ve wanted a copy for years; now I have one.
I am curious as to what extent Fox develops new ideas not found in Love . . .